'It's less traumatic because you're in your own home': exploring trauma-informed care for digital sexual health services - a secondary qualitative data analysis

Abstract

Objectives: Trauma-an event or circumstance causing an individual physical and/or emotional harm-is associated with adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes, including a higher prevalence of sexually transmitted infections. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a systematic framework that recognises and addresses the impact of trauma through an organisation's policies, practices and environment. Online delivery of sexual health services has rapidly become a standard of care in England; therefore, our research aims to provide valuable insights for implementing TIC in digital platforms.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of qualitative data from two mixed methods studies that conducted semi-structured interviews with n=100 and n=25 sexual health service users following purposive sampling. A sample of 11 transcripts was included, and an inductive-deductive approach was used to analyse the data.

Results: Our findings highlight six key themes of TIC: (1) Safety, (2) Trust and Transparency, (3) Peer Support and Self-Help, (4) Collaboration and Choice and (5) Cultural, Historical and Gender Issues. Participants reported that online postal self-sampling offered more privacy, comfort and control than in-person testing. They appreciated the use of gender-inclusive language and identified online postal self-sampling as a 'safer option' for individuals who fear being misgendered in clinical settings. However, some were concerned about providing sensitive information online, such as information about sexual partners or gender identity. There was limited evidence of peer support, and participants recommended improved signposting to sexual assault reporting and other trauma-related resources.

Conclusions: This is the first known qualitative study exploring the intersection between TIC and digital sexual health interventions. Our study provides insight into how current online postal self-sampling practices facilitate the principles of TIC and which gaps remain. Future research should explore how these principles can be adapted to make digital sexual health services more trauma-informed.

Keywords: Diagnostic Screening Programs; Gynecology; PUBLIC HEALTH; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; SEXUAL HEALTH.